Legendary star

Chapter 525 A chance to make history
January 2004, 1, Friday, US time, Indianapolis Bankers Life Arena, the Pacers will host the Dallas Mavericks at home today, because the Pacers defeated the Celtics in the last game and took the His winning streak has increased to 9 games, so today's game, for the Pacers and all fans who support the Pacers, is a moment for them to create history, and for the visiting Mavericks, it is also a witness At the moment of history, whether to watch the Pacers step on themselves to create history, or to go down in history as a Terminator depends on today's game.

At the same time, today's game is also a strong duel between the No. 27 in the East and the No. 7 in the West. As the current No. 33 in the West and No. [-] in the league, although the Mavericks currently have a record of [-] wins and [-] losses, compared with the Pacers' [-] consecutive victories It's much inferior, but the Mavericks don't think their strength is much worse than the Pacers.What makes the Mavericks players very upset is that before the start of the game, the Mavericks seemed to be forgotten. The entire American media was full of news about the Pacers, and almost all basketball players The players are all on the side of the Pacers. It seems that the Pacers beat them and set a new winning streak.Even the president of the league, David Stern, issued a statement this morning that he will watch the game live tonight and witness this historic moment with his own eyes.

"Steve, don't worry, I will definitely blow up that kid today, so don't worry." Looking at Nash in the locker room, and looking at Meng Xu who was being interviewed on the TV, the unfriendly eyes , Antoine Walker, who also didn't like Meng Xu, sat next to Nash, put his arms around Nash's neck, and said to Meng Xu on the TV, gnashing his teeth.

Once, Antoine Walker was the darling of Boston and the savior in the eyes of all Celtics fans, but since Meng Xu entered the league and was appointed as the successor by Larry Bird, Antoine Walker's The nightmare came. He changed from Boston's darling and future to being questioned by fans. He was even almost sent to the Spurs in exchange for Meng Xu, who was only a rookie at the time. The confirmed trade rumors have always been regarded as a great shame by Antoine Walker. You must know that Antoine Walker was a new All-Star in the league at the time, and he could contribute 20+10+5 per game. Sent to the Spurs by the Cardinal, the exchange was for Meng Xu, who averaged only 8 points and 6 rebounds per game at the time. After that, the Celtics wanted to use him as a bargaining chip to exchange Meng Xu more than once. While complaining about the Cardinal and Larry Bird many times, Antoine Walker also became more and more jealous of Meng Xu, who took away everything that should belong to him.After the playoffs of the 01-02 season, Antoine Walker's jealousy towards Meng Xu turned into hatred. The Celtics led by Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce were swept away by the Pacers. The scene of nearly [-] fans in the TD North Shore Garden Arena turned their backs collectively, Antoine Walker is still vivid in his mind until now.

After the playoffs, Antoine Walker, who wanted revenge, changed his laziness in the following season, trained and played desperately, and played the second best season of his career. But the Celtics fell to the Nets before meeting Meng Xu's Pacers in the playoffs. After the season ended, Antoine Walker was sent to the small team by Danny Ainge who lost confidence. Niu, this is like a bolt from the blue for the proud Antoine Walker, which also makes Antoine Walker's obsession with Meng Xu deeper in his heart.

"These two guys." Listening to the conversation between Walker and Nash, Nowitzki shook his head helplessly. Nowitzki is not as optimistic as the two of them. The Mavericks just played against the Lakers yesterday. One game, I came to Indiana non-stop today, while the Pacers rested for several days in a row. In addition, the Pacers' tactics have always restrained the Mavericks, especially the one named James Posey. Let Nowitzki play very uncomfortable, so in today's game, it is quite difficult for the Mavericks to beat the Pacers.

In the Pacers' locker room, there is now a relaxed atmosphere. After the game against the Celtics, the Pacers got three days of rest, plus those players who were not in good condition, In the previous two games, they got another chance to rest, so at this time, the Pacers looked energetic from top to bottom.And today is the day when they made history again, and their desire for victory also made them glow with high fighting spirit.

"The Mavericks are very likely to play a small lineup today, so we have to change our starting lineup today. Jermaine, you play at the 5th position today, James goes to the 4th position, and Tyshawn starts at the 3rd position today. Reggie is still playing the 2, Meng is back at the 1, and the Mavericks have a very fast offensive and defensive transition, which requires us to focus on ourselves at all times and protect our defensive areas, understand?" After arranging the starting lineup for this game, Rick Carlisle secretly clenched his fists. As long as he beats the Mavericks, the longest winning streak in NBA history will belong to the Pacers and himself. At this time, the Ke Carlisle also had some uncontrollable tension in his heart.

"understand!"

"clear!". . . . . .

"Okay, let's go, let's create a new history!"

"The Pacers fans are really enthusiastic today!" When the visiting Mavericks players started to walk out of the player tunnel, deafening boos erupted in the Banker Life Arena. Obviously, they have never seen such a big Mavericks. Rookie Marquis Daniels was frightened and froze for a few seconds before reacting. Michaels, who was sitting on the sidelines and witnessed all this, looked at Marquis Daniels in a panic. Said jokingly.

Since Meng Xu came to Indiana, the Pacers' home attendance rate has been among the top three in the league. Even in the offseason of last season, the Pacers carried out a comprehensive renovation of the Bankers Life Arena, increasing the number of seats. At 20680, every time the Pacers play home games, the Bankers Life Arena is still hard to get a ticket.Facing the boos of more than 2 fans, let alone a rookie like Marquez Daniels, even an old guy like Michael Finley was a little uneasy at the moment.

"In this game, the starting lineups of the Pacers and the Mavericks are a little different." Magic Johnson, who has already got the starting lists of both sides, is obviously more concerned about the changes of the two sides in this game.

Just when Michaels also put his attention on the starting rosters of both sides, the boos at the Bankers Life Arena stopped abruptly, and the Pacers players walked out of the team with waves of cheers. Passage, when Meng Xu was the last one to walk out of the player passage, the enthusiastic atmosphere on the scene reached its peak in an instant. After the cheers and applause, the sound of "MVP" resounded through the Bankers Life Arena.

"It's Dirk who represented the Mavericks jump ball today!" Just as Rick Carlisle expected, the Mavericks' main center Sean "Big Bamboo" Bradley was put on the bench in today's game. And Dirk Nowitzki was pushed to the center position by the old Nelson. As the center of the Mavericks and the tallest player on the field, the important task of jumping the ball on behalf of the Mavericks and the Pacers naturally fell to Nowitzki. on Wizki.

It's just that Nowitzki really doesn't have much talent and experience in jumping the ball. When the referee threw the basketball into the air with a whistle, Jermaine O'Neal jumped up and threw the basketball in the air. It was dialed to the Pacers' half, and Nowitzki, who jumped the ball with Jermaine O'Neal, just tiptoed, and the jump ball was over. Jermaine O'Neal's bounce speed was too fast Nowitzki, who was almost in front of him, was wondering if the person standing in front of him just now was an insider.

After Sean Bradley was pushed to the bench, the Mavericks' retreat speed was indeed much faster. In addition to the result of the jump ball, they had already prepared for it. Therefore, after Meng Xu just When the dribble passed the half court, the five Mavericks players on the court had all retreated to their positions.

Under such circumstances, the Pacers can only slow down and play positional battles. After Meng Xu slowed down the speed of advancement, Jermaine O'Neal also stayed at the top of the arc very tacitly, ready to fight for the Meng Xu made the pick and roll.

Defense is always Nash's shortcoming, not to mention that Meng Xu, a pervert who can crush all players at the same position, has to be defended today, so Mavericks' head coach Niles also arranged for Michael Finley to cooperate with Nash today. Double-team defense against Meng Xu.

It's just that the defense of Nash and Finley is obviously not enough in front of Meng Xu. Meng Xu easily got rid of Nash with a big stride dribble breakthrough, and then passed between Jermaine O'Neal who was already prepared in advance. With the pick and roll, Meng Xu got rid of Finley again. Facing Nowitzki who switched defenses, Meng Xu only used a feint to get rid of him and rushed directly to the basket of the Mavericks.

"Bastard, there's me!" Today, playing power forward Antoine Walker in this game, saw Meng Xu get rid of several defenders in a row, and after rushing towards the basket, he immediately gave up his defensive target. He rushed towards Meng Xu.

"You're too slow." Meng Xu, who had already jumped up, saw Antoine Walker pounced towards him, and avoided his block with an easy folding lever in the air, followed by a one-handed With a dunk, Danny Fortson, who rushed from the other side, didn't even have a chance to foul, and Meng Xu was already hanging on the basket.

(End of this chapter)